Heather Marsden and Cody Stevens have been an item since their first year of high school. With their future planned and their college graduation within reach, Cody gets devastating news from his doctor. Heather must now cope with the knowledge that she might lose the man who was supposed to be her forever.

While trying to come up with a grand final birthday surprise for him, Heather ends up befriending the new girl in town. Suzanne Cross lives a hippie life full of color and extravagance, seemingly without a care in the world. In truth, she’s all alone and hides a secret.

Heather’s new friend is something more than human, but how far will she be willing to go to save Cody? Just how much faith in “love” can she muster?

A few minutes into class, the door opened and a tall, dark-haired beauty rushed in, apologizing to the teacher with an innocent smile. The girl rushed across the room and slid into the seat right in front of Suzanne, who found herself staring and not caring one bit that she was. The purple aura around the newcomer was comforting . . . welcoming.

With a soft sigh, the girl dropped her bag before rummaging around in it for something. She finally found what she’d been after—a hairpiece—and as she straightened up and twisted the satiny lengths of her onyx hair into a messy bun, Suzanne was hit with a wave of sweet scent.

The smell reminded her of the beach—coconuts and limes. Surprisingly, she found herself leaning forward to try and sniff the girl who chose that moment to turn around, her pretty brown eyes widening at Suzanne’s proximity.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you,” she whispered and though her voice shook, she pressed on. “Hi, I’m Suzanne Cross. I just transferred here and well, I’m having a party on Friday to try to get to know some people . . .” The words rambled out while she pushed a flyer toward the girl, trying to cover her inappropriate sniffing. What the hell? Suzanne didn’t do girls, but something about this girl was calling to her.

The girl didn’t grunt. She didn’t give Suzanne a noncommittal nod either. Instead, she took the flyer, looked it over, and then looked up at Suzanne with a brilliant smile.

She couldn’t help thinking how very beautiful the girl was and her head was having a hard time wrapping around that.

“Nice to meet you, Suzanne,” she whispered back. Her breath was tinted with a minty scent. “I’m Heather. This sounds great, but I need to check my calendar. I might have something going on,” she said politely before turning back around to pay attention to the history professor.

Suzanne had to give the girl credit for at least being amiable. She was the first person to speak to her all day—even if it had been a tactful dismissal. It hadn’t escaped Suzanne’s notice that most of the invitations she’d distributed throughout the day were left behind on seats, or even blatantly wadded up and tossed in the trash when people left the classrooms.

Class ended an hour later, and Suzanne was beyond ready to get home and light up. There was a shitload of homework to tackle, but it could wait a little bit until she’d mellowed. She was gathering her things when Suzanne felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking up, she was met with Heather’s sweet face.

“Hey, Suzanne, I just wanted to ask, if I can make it, is it okay if I bring my boyfriend? Friday’s his birthday and it would be awful of me to ditch him.” Heather let out a cute giggle, and she found herself smiling despite the absurdity of her reaction.

R.E. Hargrave lives on the outskirts of Dallas, TX where she prides herself on being a domestic engineer. Married to her high school sweetheart, together they are raising three children. She is an avid reader, a sometimes quilter, and now, a writer. Other hobbies include gardening and a love of music. A native ‘mutt,’ Hargrave has lived in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and California. She is fond of setting her stories—which range from the sweet to the paranormal to the erotic—on location in South Carolina and Texas, but it’s anybody’s guess as to what the genre will be!